Brandon Sanderson
[Wind and Truth] is going to answer a lot of questions. It's going to delve into the lore of Roshar more than any book has so far.
Brandon Sanderson
I wonder sometimes if I should do a full-on rewrite of Alloy. It would also be my vote for weakest Cosmere novel. (I think it's probably my weakest novel overall.) The big problem came from it being a short story, that became a novella, that became a fun little novel not meant to do any heavy lifting. But the series went from there to get some of my strongest books, as I fell in love with world and characters, and became a full-blown era rather than a pit stop between tow large eras.
So you have something weaker, meant as a kind of "Secret History" novella, to a load-bearing pillar of the Mistborn series. And it's the place where already (coming off the main trilogy) where people were the most likely to abandon Mistborn as a larger mega-series. So I have my weakest cosmere book in a pivotal place in the sequence.
The solution could be to just take it and give it a ground-up rewrite with more depth of characterization and narrative rigor. But then, we have the problem of their being two significantly different versions of a book, which causes other logistical problems.
catprat
[From Dan Wells' section of State of the Sanderson]
"A very cool [REDACTED] is planned for 2024."
Was this our secret project hint?
Peter Ahlstrom
No.
popegonzo
Have we learned what the redacted thing is at this point?
Peter Ahlstrom
No. But Dan is very much involved.
Dan Wells
I have finished the frustratingly secret projects that I rudely refuse to tell you about, and am now working full steam on the Dark One novel. Plus a lot of detours into the worldbuilding of my Cosmere series, which really should wait until I'm done with Dark One but it's too exciting and I can't help myself :)
Questioner
I know that certain characters like Heralds and others cannot leave their planet because they're so heavily Invested, and they can't leave through the Cognitive Realm. If there was a spaceship - I know there's gonna be spaceships - but I mean like, spaceships without any other things, could they leave their planet that way? And if not, what would happen to their Physical body?
Brandon Sanderson
So they would not be able to leave. It would be pretty destructive for them, because it would basically rip out their Spiritual component, and it would have to stay. And the squishy matter stuff might keep going, but it'd be a disaster, right? So, even a Physical spaceship to convey them away would not work. But the answer to how it can happen is in Rhythm of War, so read Rhythm of War and... they're figuring things out.
Questioner
Warbreaker makes it very clear that Breaths cannot be taken, they have to be "freely given." Would the power of the Shard be able to override this? If so, since it was not freely given, would the victim still have some sort of manipulation or control over said Breaths?
Brandon Sanderson
Uhh, you're theorizing in a good direction. The Shard probably would have the power to override this. It depends on various factors and various Shards could get involved but it would be the sort of thing that would expose them to attack by other ones. So Endowment could manipulate <Breaths>. Others, if they tried to, it would be dangerous for them and there would still be some Connection to the individual? There is some anyway, but it would not clear it or blank it, the way that normally giving your Breath to someone else does.